1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a particle supply apparatus that supplies particles such as toner to a particle supply destination, an electrophotographic imaging apparatus such as a copier, a printer, a facsimile machine, or a multi-function machine that includes such a particle supply apparatus, and a monitoring system that monitors such an imaging apparatus over a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
Technology related to a particle supply apparatus such as a toner bank or a toner replenishing apparatus used for accommodating large amounts of toner in an imaging apparatus such as a copier or a printer are disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3534159 and Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-24622, for example.
In Japanese Patent No. 3534159, a particle supply apparatus (toner bank) that can accommodate plural toner container bottles is disclosed. Specifically, according to this disclosure, a stopper of one of the plural toner containers is removed so that toner contained therein may be supplied to a hopper of the toner bank. The toner within the hopper of the toner bank is conveyed to a developing apparatus corresponding to a toner supply destination by gas flow transferring means. Then, when the opened toner container becomes empty, another toner container is opened and toner is supplied from this other toner container to the toner bank.
In Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-24622, a particle supply apparatus (toner replenishing apparatus) that includes a hopper (toner hopper) having a larger capacity than a toner container is disclosed. Specifically, according to this disclosure, toner from plural toner containers is accommodated within a toner hopper having a large capacity. The hopper has a stirring member that stirs the toner accommodated therein. The toner within the hopper is discharged from the lower side of the hopper and is conveyed toward a developing apparatus corresponding to the toner supply destination by fluid transporting means.
Also, Japanese Patent No. 3549051 discloses a particle supply apparatus (replenishing apparatus) for replenishing toner (particles) in a toner container (particle container). Specifically, according to this disclosure, air is supplied to the replenishing apparatus in order to increase the internal pressure of the apparatus so that toner accommodated within the replenishing apparatus may be discharged from a particle emission tube and supplied to a toner container corresponding to a toner supply destination.
The particle supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3534159 accommodates plural toner containers in order to increase its toner accommodating capacity. However, when all the toner contained in the plural toner containers are used up, plural replacement toner containers have to be reinstalled into the apparatus which may be quite burdensome. In this respect, although toner accommodating capacity may be increased in the particle supply apparatus, operations required after all the toner is used up may be rather inefficient according to this technique.
The particle supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-24622 increases the toner accommodating capacity by increasing the capacity of the hopper. However, according to this technique, the toner accommodated in the hopper is mechanically stirred by a stirring member in order to prevent cross-linking of the toner, and as a result, mechanical stress may occur in the toner. When mechanical stress occurs in the toner, additives mixed to the toner may emerge onto the toner surface and/or be separated from the toner so that the toner may be degraded to cause image quality degradation. Further, since the particle supply apparatus of Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2005-24622 discharges toner from the lower side of the hopper, the toner scattering amount from the particle supply apparatus may be increased when the seal around the toner discharge outlet is degraded, for example.
The particle supply apparatus disclosed in Japanese Patent No. 3549051 actively applies pressure to an accommodating portion that accommodates toner in order to enable discharge of the toner. Accordingly, the accommodating portion has to have adequate mechanical durability for withstanding the pressure applied thereto. In this respect, although the particle supply apparatus according to this technique may be used as a fabricating apparatus that replenishes toner to a toner container, it may not be suitable for use as a particle supply apparatus of an imaging apparatus that supplies toner to a developing apparatus.
Also, it is noted that in the case of using the technique of actively applying pressure to the toner accommodating portion to discharge the toner from the accommodating portion, the discharge amount of toner may vary significantly depending on the amount of toner remaining in the accommodating portion, and it may be difficult to perform fine adjustment of the toner discharge amount. Thus, although the particle supply apparatus of Japanese Patent No. 3549051 may be used as a fabricating apparatus that replenishes toner to a toner container, it may not be suitable for use as a particle supply apparatus of an imaging apparatus that supplies toner to a developing apparatus.
It is noted that the problems described above are not merely problems encountered by a particle supply apparatus used in an imaging apparatus. That is, the problems are common to all types of particle supply apparatuses that demands fine adjustment of the particle supply amount without damaging the particles.
Also, for such particle supply apparatuses, a technique is in demand for efficiently and accurately supplying particles to a supply destination while preventing scattering of the particles accommodated within a particle accommodating portion.